Over four in ten students lose some or all of their deposit

A concerning new report has revealed that over 40% of students lost some or all of their deposits at the conclusion of their tenancy agreement in the last year.

Online agency StudentTenant suggest that this has led to an overall loss of £32m.

Reasoning

The main reasons for keeping all or some of deposits were:

professional cleaning-52%

damage to fixtures and fittings-24%

excessive wear and tear-22%

unpaid bills-5%

On average, one third of the deposit-equivalent to £164-is held by landlords or agents.

Over four in ten students lose some or all of their deposit

Deposits

In addition, a small proportion of landlords failed to protect student deposits in one of the three Government recognised schemes. Many students remain unaware that it is mandatory for all private sector landlords to protect deposits through a Government approved tenancy deposit scheme.

A spokesperson for StudentTenant said: ‘Students must be made aware that they have a right to see paperwork to prove their deposits are protected by one of the schemes. Landlords are legally obliged to put deposits into these to protect themselves and their tenants within30 days, but it’s just not made clear enough for students.’[1]